Sputtering apparatus typically employ one or more sputtering chambers through which substrates, for example, computer memory disks, integrated circuits, flat panel displays and glass sheets or panels, are conveyed for the application of thin films thereto. The substrates are coated via physical vapor deposition, which utilizes a plasma energy source, the position and density of which is controlled by a magnetic field; this process is known to those skilled in the art as “magnetron” sputtering. Magnetrons, which may be planar or cylindrical, include an electrode coupled to an array of magnets; the electrode is overlaid with a target, which includes the material that is to be deposited on the substrates. The deposition is brought about by bombardment of the target surface by ions, which are formed in a gaseous plasma and energized via a voltage applied by the electrode to the target. The terms ‘magnetron’ and ‘sputtering target’, or just ‘target’, are sometimes used interchangeably by those skilled in the art, and may likewise be used herein.
Often times substrates, such at those given above, by way of example, require a coating on opposing sides. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,731 discloses sputtering chambers that have been developed to include magnetrons, or sputtering targets, disposed on either side of the substrates being conveyed therethrough. However, there remains a need in the industry for improved mounting arrangements and control of sputtering targets, within sputtering chambers, that will provide an improved combination of features favorably impacting speed, expense, and ease of operator use.